Nintendo reiterates: No games for Android, iOS

Andre Yoskowitz
15 Sep 2011 12:21

Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata makes it clear the company will not get into the mobile games business.
Reiterating statements he has made in the past, Iwata, speaking at the Tokyo Game Show press conference, has said unequivocally that Nintendo will not begin making games for Android, iOS or other mobile platforms that aren't their own.

Says the CEO (via Rant):

If we did this, Nintendo would cease to be Nintendo. Having a hardware development team in-house is a major strength. It’s the duty of management to make use of those strengths. It’s probably the correct decision in the sense that the moment we started to release games on smartphones we’d make profits. However, I believe my responsibility is not to short term profits, but to Nintendo’s mid and long term competitive strength.

Investors and shareholders immediately criticized the move, selling the stock off. Trading as high as ¥71,100 in 2007 with blistering Wii and DS sales, the company's stock has fallen to ¥11,800, its price before the launch of the Wii.

In the last five months alone, following the weak sales of the 3DS handheld, the company's stock has fallen 50 percent. Around the same time, Iwata made his first comments about no smartphone games.

All eyes now move on to the 2012 release of the Wii U to see whether Nintendo has any gas left in the tank.